Love VS Hate
by QueenofGays
Summary: Elise, a 17-year-old care kid, is left hospitalised after becoming victim to an act of homophobic violence against her. Will Arizona and Callie be able to convince her that she's worth saving?
1. Chapter 1

**HI GUYS**

 **So this is set after Callie and Arizona got married, imagining that they didn't have Sofia because they lost her after the car accident. It's before the plane crash and we're going to pretend it never happens, as I do every day of my life okay?**

 **This Chapter is more of an introductory chapter, so it mostly sets up the main character's story. There will be more interactions between Elise and the grey's anatomy characters to come, don't worry.**

 **Trigger warning – This series will contain descriptions of hate crime, and will contain references and description of self-harm and suicide. Please to not read if you feel like you will be triggered by any of this, or just aren't into it.**

 **Please enjoy.**

* * *

"We've got a Jane Doe, Approximate age 17; victim of battery with possible head trauma; lacerations to the scalp, chest and neck; a broken tibia; 3 broken ribs and a fractured shoulder bone" exclaimed a paramedic with a speed to fast that, in my state of shock, barely made any sense to me. But that didn't matter. I could tell it wasn't good. I could _feel_ it wasn't good, because despite being trained in the art of keeping a stone face, the gravity of my injuries weighed down on her features, causing even her sympathetic smile to wither and rot until all that was left on her lips was pity.

The journey had been a lifetime, with every corner feeling like a never-ending roundabout and every bump feeling like the ambulance was falling into the centre of the earth. More than once the contents of my stomach came up violently as I writhed in pain upon the lightly padded, foam-like bed I had been strapped to. I was not allowed to move, they had said, in case I did any more damage than had already been done. So I had no choice but to stay still. I began to count to 10.

"You can always get to 10. No matter how tired or in pain you are, you can always get to 10. And when you get there, you start all over again.'

I thought back to when Emilia had told me this. A beer in one hand, a cigarette in another and a glorious smile stuck on her face as if she knew that she, and only she, was made of the sun, the moon and the stars all at once. To me, she was. My recollection was fuzzy as I tried to remember the last moments we had spent together but was jolted back to consciousness as a school of eager and restless interns shuffled over to get a good look at the freak show.

"Jesus Christ-"

"She's just a kid-"

My heart began to beat as they talked about me in hushed voices.

"$10 she got beaten by her boyfriend-"

"$20 she got jumped-"

I felt the familiar snake of anxiety start to twist its way from my gut. All I wanted to do was scream at them to stop talking about me like I wasn't there, but somewhere along the way, the words got stuck in my mouth.

"She didn't get jumped dumbass, look at her! She doesn't have anything remotely worth stealing-"

"Well, that's because they stole everything-"

More and more interns joined to give their input until their sentences merged into one, the cacophony of noise booming over me as if I were standing next to the loudspeakers at a heavy metal concert, the beat ringing in my ears and my chest vibrating with panic every time a word was said. The snake began to wrap itself around my windpipes, closing off my only source of oxygen and my breathing became jagged. I gasped for air and began to thrash around on the bed, tears rolling down my cheeks as I realised I was having a panic attack. All the came out of my mouth were whimpers.

"Shut up" A voice boomed over the whole ER, causing everyone the freeze in their place, including me. "Shut up, all of you. We have a patient who is scared and alone right now and all you can do is place bets over how she got here? Have you forgotten who you are? If you don't get your asses out of my sight by the time I finish speaking, yall better hope you're the next Jesus Christ, because you'll be walking on thin ice. ALL INTERNS ARE BANNED FROM THIS CASE UNLESS I SPECIFICALLY SAY OTHERWISE… WHICH I WON'T! Is that understood?"

The blob of interns that had previously been gathered around my bed quickly dispersed with terrified whimpers.

"Grey; page Robbins, Sloan, Shepard and Torrez 911 quickly! We're going to need all hands on deck and we're running out of time."

I felt the bed begin to shudder as it began to move quickly again, this time by the pushing of booming voice lady. As we manoeuvred past the multitude of busy and bustling nurses all trying to get to very important patients, I realised that this woman was the definition of 'small but mighty'. Coming to about 5'4, she was most definitely one of the smallest people in the room but made up for the shortcoming with a voice that mirrored years of experience and a tone that told me she was undoubtedly in charge. The African-American woman's lips were pierced tightly together, in a way that made it obvious she was judging you from the moment you entered the room, and her eyebrows were furrowed into a serious expression.

"My name is Doctor Bailey," She told me gently once we had reached trauma room 1. She talked slowly as if she thought I was brain damaged as well as everything else. I would've laughed if I hadn't been in so much pain. "Can you tell me yours?"

"Elise" I managed to rasp, my voice unrecognisable and wavering as my upper lip started to tremble.

"Good, that's great Elise. Okay, I need you to follow the light with your eyes, can you do that?"

I grimaced at the feeling of sharp pain shooting up my left side but nodded, following with my eyes as Doctor Bailey shined the torch into my left eye first, and then my right, moving in circular motions.

* * *

 _"You could just stay at my place?" Emilia hinted, grinning mockingly at me as she slid her hands around my hips to cup my curves with gentle and loving hands. She knew as well I did that I wasn't allowed._

 _"You know I can't" I complained, turning away from her before I blushed and beginning to walk towards the bike rack. She grabbed my hand and pulled me back before I could make any progress._

 _"Stay with me then?"_

 _"Are you crazy? It's like, winter out here Emilia! Are you trying to get us killed?"_

 _Emilia pouted and took my hand in hers, her fingers intertwining with mine and smirking at me when she saw my face soften. She always won._

 _"Fine" I gave up, a smile spreading across my lips as she squealed in delight. "As long as I'm back before curfew. You know how they get when I miss group therapy"_

 _"Wouldn't want you getting into trouble now would we?" She told me playfully, throwing her arms around my waist and pulling my in closely._

 _"So, uh, you got any plans? Or are we just going to freeze together, make a political statement about global warming and the effects it has on…."_

 _"Lesbians?" She chuckled, finishing my sentence for me as I struggled to find the right words._

 _"I was going to say 'care kids'"_

 _"Uh-HUH"_

 _"Seriously though, have you got any plans, I'm freezing?"_

 _"Oh, I've got a few…"_

 _Before I had a chance to react, Emilia had pulled me into her own body and placed a soft but passionate kiss on my lips for the first time. My legs turned to jelly as I reciprocated the act, and I couldn't help but grin from beneath the kiss at the predicament I'd found myself in._

 _That's when I heard them._


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for anyone who read the first chapter and enjoyed it. I'm really really really enjoying writing this!**

 **HAVE FUN 3**

* * *

"NONONONONO" I sobbed, crying out loudly as I felt a sharp pain shoot through my shoulder. "PLEASE MAKE IT STOP"

In reply, four other people in blue scrubs ran into the room with an urgency that only a surgeon could handle, stopping in their tracks immediately when they caught sight of the challenge they would be up against for the next couple of hours. Their faces betrayed them whilst they watched with horror as I thrashed around on the bed, desperate for someone who could stop the pain.

"Jesus Christ"

"Save it" Ordered Bailey harshly, trying her best to keep me still as she injected me with what I guessed was morphine. Whilst she regurgitated all of the information that had been told to her by the paramedic, the other surgeons jumped into action. They stationed themselves at different parts of my body; one to my legs, gently prodding and groping the bone to search for breaks; one to my face, assessing which cuts should be stitched up first to stop bad scarring; one monitoring the beeping machine to my left, checking that my heartbeat stayed within the safe zone.

I struggled wildly against their grip as I replayed the kiss in my mind. It had been perfect. Like something out of a rom-com movie, all romantic and soppy. If it were a scene in a film; majestic music would start playing and the camera would pan out to reveal everyone watching in awe as the girl gets the boy and lives happily ever after. Only this time the girl didn't get the boy… she got the soft-lipped, sweet-smelling, motherfucking badass girl. Emilia's lips had tasted like apple juice and peach all rolled into one and her skin soft as it touched my own. It had been perfect until it hadn't been, and then it had been terrifying and wrong. I cried out in unbearable agony again as my head started to pound. This wasn't how it was meant to be.

Bailey grew desperate, her voice urgent and harsh as she tried to hold me down.

"Robbins, talk to her"

"NONONONOOOOO. It hurts" I sobbed, trying desperately not to remember the sharp pain of bones breaking as the baseball bats hit my limbs and shattered them into pieces. My mind swirled and everything began to get fuzzy, pain smearing the memory of our first kiss as I hovered over the brink of consciousness. "Please stop, please stop"

From the foggy mist of pure agony came a different voice. This one was soft and comforting; woven from silk and mixed with the twittering of songbirds.

 _God,_ I thought, _these painkillers really are kicking in_.

"Elise? I want you to open your eyes, and look at me!" Came the voice of silk. I wanted desperately to open my eyes and find the source of the noise but my lids seemed to be glued shut.

"It hurts, it hurts so bad" I whimpered, the events of today playing on a cycle in my head, each time getting more and more traumatising.

Emilia had asked me to stay, pulled me in close, and then the pain had seared through my body as her lips touched mine. NO, that wasn't it. Emilia had asked me to stay, pulled me in close, the pain had seared through my body and then she kissed me. NO, that wasn't it either. The events became more and more jumbled up as I tried to remember. I repeated myself.

"Please make it stop. It hurts"

"I know it does. But that's why I want you to look at me, can you do that? Can you look at me?"

I furrowed my brow in pain and swallowed violently. Suddenly all I wanted to do was go to sleep, a wave of exhaustion rushing over me as the morphine started to kick in, sending the world into swirls. I opened my eyes with concentrated effort and tried to focus on the voice in front of me. Where Bailey was scary and harsh, this lady was the complete opposite. Where Bailey was dark featured, everything about this lady was light. Her eyes were snowflakes on a summer's day, a touch of frost in the otherwise warm surroundings and I found myself immediately at ease when looking into them. They were the sort of eyes that could read you in a second; the piercing blue penetrating even your darkest secrets before you even know you had them. She had kind features, a smile that revealed dimples and laughter lines that gave her an air of maturity. She must've been about early 30's.

"There we go" She soothed, touching my head gently and giving me an encouraging smile "Now we're going to breathe in and out like this okay?"

The lady breathed in and out deeply for me and I gratefully followed her, finding that with every breath, the act became easier until I didn't have to try anymore.

"See, easy!" She told me, smiling encouragingly down at me. Her smile was the sort of smile that lit up a room, no matter how dark or light and I couldn't help but give her a little one back. "Is there anyone we can call? Family, relatives…."

I shook my head quickly and looked up at the ceiling with a defeated sigh. Now came the part of the conversation I dreaded, where someone found out I was a care kid and instantly started to treat me like I was damaged goods, the awkwardness rippling through their features like a pebble in a river, interrupting the status quo and changing everything. I was 8 when I first entered foster care, filled with an abundance of hope and excitement that only an innocent child could manage, the promise of a nice new family ringing in my ears like a catchy song I couldn't quite remember the words to. That all changed quickly. I'd been in 10 different foster homes in the last year and Juvie was basically a second home for me at this point.

"You don't want us to call anyone?" She asked, confusion knitting her face as she looked into my eyes for an answer. I gave her a fleeting glance before looking away again, staring at anything other than the pretty blonde in front of me.

"I don't have anyone _to_ call."

An uncomfortable silence settled through the doctors as they attended to my wounds, applying stitches and band aids where needed. Again, I would've laughed if I wasn't in so much pain. These situations had to be laughed at, or you'd never laugh again. Instead of backing away, or giving up on me, the lady with the silk voice knelt down and squeezed my hand.

"How old are you Elise?" Asked the blonde, trying to distract me from the whirlwind of madness that was thundering on around me.

"17"

"Woah, that's a pretty exciting age right?" She asked, a grin spreading across her face as we began to talk.

"I guess…"

"You guess?!" She mocked, raising and eyebrow, "You're nearly an adult! What are your plans for when you leave school?"

I shrugged nonchalantly and looked up at the ceiling again. Plans for the future was not something a care kid had to worry about. _We_ had to worry about when our next meal was coming in, or whether we were about to be beaten by our new foster carer. I didn't have time to worry about my future. The blonde obviously saw this because she quickly changed the subject.

"My name is Doctor Robbins, by the way," She told me kindly, gently moving the hair from my face and unsticking pieces that had become meshed with tears to my skin. "I'm a paediatric surgeon here at Seattle Grace – Mercy West. That's Doctor Shepard, Doctor Torres and Doctor Sloan."

"Breathe in for me, love. You're going to feel a bit of pressure and then a whole lot of relief" Doctor Sloan told me kindly.

He was an attractive, well-groomed man, one that looked like they'd be better suited for modelling than surgery. His facial hair had obviously been groomed meticulously hours before with a razor, shaping his beard neatly around his sharp-edged chin and square lips. His features were well structured, with cheekbones that could easily cut a person and a nose the jut out just the perfect amount. In other words, he was very attractive.

I breathed in for him and felt the prick of another needle sting my cheek as it pumped another sort of numbing solution into the muscle. Soon, my cheek became numb and I couldn't feel a thing.

"She's got a ruptured spleen" Sighed Doctor Torres, throwing me a glancing look before turning to the other surgeons. "We're going to need to get her into surgery as soon as possible"

"Okay, but what about the possible head trauma?"

"He's right, if there is internal bleeding and we leave it for too long, it could cause permanent brain damage"

"But if we take her for a CT scan right now, we could risk abdominal bleeding and we really don't want that"

The noises began to get louder and I started to panic again when they argued over what to do with me. Words that I didn't understand were being thrown around like it was obvious what they meant and in a daze, I reached out for the hand of the only person in the world who had been nice to me so far. Doctor Robbins looked down in shock as I grabbed her and she told everyone to quiet down.

"Am I going to die?" I whispered, a few tears escaping my dark eyes, sliding down my cheeks slowly and watering the pillow beneath me.

"That word is banned from this room from now on you hear me." She ordered, squeezing my hand to let me know that she was there. "And speak English everyone. You're frightening her!"

I felt someone grab my other hand and looked over to see Doctor Torres kneeling down next to me as well, nodding at Doctor Robbins with a soft expression on her face.

"Hey buddy, I'm Doctor Torres. I'm an orthopaedic surgeon. Do you know what that is?"

"B-bones and s-shit" I stammered, grimacing in pain as I tried to look at her.

"Yeah that's right" She chuckled, a grin forming on her face. "Bones and shit. What we were just saying was that we're concerned that you might have some internal bleeding that could cause brain damage. Now, if we wait and take you for a CT, you're spleen, with has basically burst, might start bleeding into other parts of your abdomen."

I bit my lip but nodded seriously. Everything Doctor Torres was saying terrified me, but I was grateful she was saying it. I didn't like being patronised.

"Now, Doctor Bailey is confident that you'll be able to last if we get you to a CT and then straight into surgery. Are you up for that?"

"I can't-"

"OH you totally can, I know it because what I see in front of me right now is a badass 17-year-old who was in a pretty terrifying attack and lives to tell the tale," Doctor Torres told me matter-of-factly. I couldn't help but smile as said these things, not used to having someone tell me that I was worth anything, let alone someone's full confidence.

"Badass" Doctor Robbins confirmed "I'll be with you every step of the way and when you _do_ wake up, it'll be to me kicking your ass for even doubting our mega-awesome skills"


	3. Chapter 3

**Trigger warning - brief mentions of suicide**

* * *

 _"Okay guys, Listen up" Mr Felin's voice drawled over the babble of excitable seniors, ready to embark on their last year of school before escaping the clutches of their evil parents and leaving for college. The sarcasm in his voice was oozing as he continued to start the same speech he gave us every year, spittle forming in the corners of his mouth. "This is your last year before you spread your wings and fly, and I just want to make sure you're aware that I will fail you if you decide to cross me… isn't that right Elise?"_

 _I looked up warily from my book as I heard my name and struggled not to give him a quick sarcastic response. His beady frogspawn eyes bore through me like they did every time I entered his class and the contents of my stomach threatened to spill._

 _'Here we go again' I thought, noticing that everyone had coincidentally found something very interesting in their textbook to look at._

 _"Well, now I've seen everything!" He sneered, picking up the book I had moments ago been engrossed in and reading out the title for everyone to hear, "A Game of Thrones! Tell me, how do you suppose to read this when you can hardly even write your own name?"_

 _"I can write my own name… sir"_

 _"If you say so. A little birdie told me that you're now at Riverstreet Girls?" He asked knowingly, marching back to the front of the class and smirking as he turned around dramatically. Everything was a performance with him._

 _Every year was the same. He'd start by calling me out in front of the class, asking about whichever home I was in at that moment. Then he'd ask me the hardest questions, berating me when I didn't know the answer and giving me extra detentions for just coughing in his direction. He was a dementor, sucking up what little happiness I had left._

 _"Well?"_

 _"Yes sir, I'm at Riverstreet Girls."_

 _"Not even Juvie wanted you huh?"_

 _"I guess not"_

 _"Riverstreet girls" he mused, pretending that he was contemplating something even though we could all see he knew exactly what he was doing "Isn't that the one where they send the junkies and prostitutes?"_

 _"Yes sir"_

 _He laughed loudly, a disgusting sound that mirrored more of a frog wheezing than anything else. I pondered on the fact that somehow he managed to make even laughter sound wrong, something that should never happen._

 _"Why don't you stand up and tell everyone what you did to end up there. Think of it as a… 'what I did over the summer' exercise!"_

 _I took a deep breath and slid out of my chair, standing up as I did so. My heart was pounding in my chest and I saw that no one could look at me in the eye. They all knew this was wrong, but they never did anything._

 _"I destroyed my foster carer's car," I told him, looking him straight in the eye as I did so. It technically wasn't a lie, the chronology was just…. mixed. That had got me into juvie. It was the suicide attempt that came next which got me into riverside girls "I was protecting myself"_

 _"Protecting yourself," He snorted, slamming my book down onto the table angrily and pointing at me with a shaking hand "You're an ungrateful brat is what you are-"_

 _"I think it's brave!"_

 _The voice came from the front of the class. It was mousy but not shy, with a hint of an English accent that I didn't recognise. I was sure I hadn't seen her before._

 _"You, WHAT?"_

 _"I think it's brave" She repeated herself, standing up and throwing me a subtle wink. "She knew that it would get her into trouble, but she did it anyway. That's poetic,"_

 _"And you are….?_

 _"Emilia. Emilia Summers"_

 _The rest of the class went past in a blur, the image of her smiling at me ingrained in my mind, sending butterflies down my whole body. When I finally did look down at my textbook, I noticed that there was a folded piece of paper on my desk. My lip twitched into a surprised smile as I read the contents;_

 _"Remember; all dwarfs may be bastards, yet all bastards need not be dwarfs- Tyrion Lannister my one and only BAE "_

 _I hid my smile under a hand and giggled. Was she called me a dwarf or a bastard?_

* * *

Beeping. A sharp pain through my side. A pounding that spread through my head like a wildfire. Slowly, the world started swirling back to me. I remembered the scary Doctor Bailey and the kind faced Doctor Robbins who had threatened to kick my ass for some reason that I couldn't quite recall. I remembered the cool faced orthopaedic surgeon whose name escaped me and a model. What was a model doing in an ER? No not _a_ model, a surgeon who looked like a model. Doctor…. Something or other. I felt a rush of nausea sweep through me as I tried to open my eyes, the bright clinical lights swirling in watercolour patches around my vision.

"You made it!"

The silk voice came from the opposite end of the room and I instantly recognised it to belong to Doctor Robbins. Blinking a few times, the smiley paediatric surgeon came into view, glancing at my files before grinning down at me.

"I guess I did!" I groaned, a sharp pain shooting up my left side as I weekly tried to prop myself up on my elbows.

"WOAH captain! Don't try and sit up" She exclaimed, leaping to the side of the bed and pushing down gently but firmly on my chest. "You've got several broken bones, a leg in a cast, a healing shoulder, not to mention all the stitches we put in your body _and_ the ruptured spleen we managed to repair. You, my dear, are on bed rest for at least the next week… doctors' orders"

I sat back in bed with defeated sighed, throwing my eyes around the room in despair. It was exactly what you'd expect from a cheap hospital room meant to house the people who couldn't afford proper ones. Bleak; with a small industrial window that looked out over a sparse car park and a tiny bedside table that looked like it could hold a scalpel and nothing else. I laughed to myself cynically as I realised that the room was basically one big metaphor for my life; sad, empty and devoid of any hope at all.

I wanted to go back to sleep and dream about Emilia's skin touching mine, sending bolts of electricity pulsing through me as sparks flew, the chemistry between us defying all laws of science. I wanted to imagine her tiny, soft hands running through my hair- something she did to comfort me when I was sad. Subconsciously, my hands went to my head and I froze when I felt nothing. Fuzzy, furry, nothing. I fingered my scalp curiously all over and came to the realisation that although I still had the majority of my hair on my left side, there was a big patch on the right that was missing.

"Doctor Shepard had to shave the right side of your head so that he could patch you up" Doctor Robbins explained to me, her voice gentle and eyes searching as if trying to predict my next move. "Are you okay? You can cry if you want, I'll pretend I didn't see anything… I'm good like that!"

My fingers grazed over the soft stubble of hair that I was sporting and I suddenly realised this was one thing too much, emotions from the day suddenly hitting me like a brick wall. I started to shake uncontrollably, sobs escaping my mouth as the pain penetrated my whole being, glueing itself to every nerve ending and giving me no chance to digest.

"Oh, oh no don't cry! I'll cry if you start crying." The blonde yelped, eyes wide with worry.

"You _just_ told me I could!" I growled, throwing her a dirty look before covering my face with my hands to hide my ugly cries.

"I know I know, I just… I wanted…. I didn't think you actually would. Hey hey hey, come here"

I felt the paediatric surgeon jump onto the bed next to me and pull me in close, allowing me to sob violently against her shoulder. I tensed. This wasn't safe for me. Every time I got close to someone they ended up hurting me. Doctor Robbins noticed my apprehension but instead of letting go she hugged tighter, wordlessly indicating that she was here for me and wouldn't be going anytime soon.

"You," She whispered, desperately searching for the perfect words to make me feel better, "You, are a fighter. Hair can grow back, it's not important. You are what's important here!"

"Are you kidding me? I am NOT Important. I'm no one, I have no one. I'm just a care kid with no family or friends. You say I'm important so that you can feel good about yourself, and then you'll say the same thing to the next kid who's dying of an unfair disease. I am not important."

I knew I could've come up with something better but I didn't have the energy. I was starting to trust her, letting her see my weaknesses and vulnerabilities and I couldn't afford to be hurt again. Eventually, I'd have to leave the hospital and she wouldn't be coming with me.

I didn't have to be able to see Robbins' face to know that my accusations had hurt her feelings, her arms going slack around me and the net of safety she'd created vanishing in an instant. I winced, frozen where I was, hands covering my face and body curled up into a ball like I used to do when I was a little girl, expecting a blow of some sorts. It never came. Instead, I felt two hands at my wrists, pulling my fingers away from my face firmly so I had no choice but to look into the eyes of the worried surgeon in front of me. I turned my head to avoid her gaze but was met with a stern tone.

"You need to look at me right now!" She instructed me, her voice turning from soft and kind to stern and maternal in seconds. When I didn't move she repeated herself more firmly. "Look at me, Elise. I can stay here all day if I need to." When I realised how very deadly serious she was I slowly lifted my eyes to meet hers. "I know that you're hurting right now. I know you feel alone. I know you're scared and in pain and you probably can't see far enough into the future to know that this is only temporary. But I can tell you, from years and years of experience, that all of this is most definitely temporary. I don't care if you don't believe it and I don't care if you don't want to hear it, but I'm going to say it until your ears turn blue…. You are Important. You're important to me, and to all those surgeons who saved your life today!"

"Fuck you" I spat, with as much venom as I could muster, the words leaving a foul taste on my lips as they left my mouth. Again though, instead of getting angry, I was shocked to hear a laugh coming from my side.

"Is that all you've got, love?" Her eye glowed with a sadness I hadn't seen in her before and I could see that her heart was breaking into pieces watching me self-destruct right in front of her. "I was an army kid so we moved around a lot; I never really made any close friends; I came out when I was 16; I've survived a shooting and a car crash, one of which took the life of my baby girl and very nearly my now-wife too. Life SUCKS. That's just how it is! You either chose to accept it and find the happiness in little things like glitter and sunshine, or you sink and, my love, you're sinking right now!"

"Doctor Robbins-"

"It's Arizona!"

I looked at her curiously and furrowed my brow in confusion.

"What?"

"My name, It's Arizona! I just shared my whole life story with you, I think we should be on first name terms with each other don't you think? Get some sleep! The police will be wanting to ask you are few questions tomorrow and I'm scheduling you a psych appointment as well"

"What?! No-"

"Not up for discussion," she interrupted, getting off my bed and tucking my file under her arm before heading off towards the door. "I'm your Doctor, and your person right now so what I say goes!"

"My person…?

"Like Callie and McSteamy or the twisted sisters! Your person y'know."

At this point, I presumed that she was going mad from all the hospital fumes. She sighed and reached into her pocket, throwing me a small little tub of Jello.

"I think me and you could be friends you know, now that you've snot all over my scrubs!"

With a little wink, she turned around, pushed off on her right foot and rolled away smoothly, leaving me staring after her in shock.

Of course, she had Heelys... of course, she did!

* * *

 **OMG So this chapter for me was really hard to write, and I ended up losing an unsaved copy and had to write half of it up again! LIFE EH?**

 **Thank you for all the likes and reviews and general loveliness. This is my first fanfiction so I'm really glad y'all enjoying it!**

 **So, I was wondering what you all thought of the parallel storyline outside of the GA world. Like, I'm enjoying writing about Elise and Emilia but are you guys enjoying reading it or do you want more GA characters or both? I can totally stop adding the flashbacks in if you guys would prefer. Would love to hear your thoughts.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**I wanted to change the writing up a bit for chapter 4 and write from Callie's POV view, but I really struggled with the first person narrative – probably because I've been writing it from Elise's perspective for a while now. SO, I decided to write in A Third Person limited narration. You'll see what I mean when you read it. This took me** **so** **long to write because I had drama exams and oh god I'm so happy I've finished this chapter!**_

 _ **Trigger warning - descriptions of self-harm**_

 _ **Please enjoy and let me know if you enjoyed reading it from a different perspective**!_

* * *

 **Callie's POV**

"Doctor Robbins!" Callie called in a mock sing-song voice as she entered the spacious apartment, throwing her shoes to the side messily and placing her keys in the bowl that sat on their oak wood cabinet. She listened out for a reply and was surprised when none came. Arizona was supposed to be home by now. "Oh Doctor Robbinnnnns"

The day had started slowly, the lazy flow of people filtering in at a steady, monotonous pace, patients coming in and out without a hint of anything even remotely interesting wrong with them. Callie had wanted bones to break, fractures to restore. She had wanted blood and guts and pulverised limbs and excitement beyond the coughs and the STD's that were coming through the clinic. Bailey had once said that complaining out loud would jinx everyone… she was right. Once that poor girl had come through the door, Callie knew that quiet would be a sound of the past.

She noticed that her wife's pink sneakers were by the door and furrowed her brow in confusion. Arizona was either concentrating on something really hard, or in the shower. She hoped it was the shower. The shower was always an invitation for hot, steamy, sex.

"Babe? Say something so I know you're not dead!" Callie laughed nervously, padding across the carpeted floor in her bare feet, relishing in the feeling of soft fluff beneath her soles and making her way towards the bedroom. When she opened the door she saw Arizona on the bed, concentrating deeply on the screen in front of her, her lip between her teeth as she chewed on the soft skin. Arizona looked up, first in shock and then relief once she realised that she wasn't about to be murdered. Lowering the laptop screen that she had been staring at, she smiled warily, the exhaustion evident through her forced smile.

"I didn't hear you come in," She chuckled, an apologetic look on her face as she adjusted herself onto her knees so she could lean forward to place a chaste kiss on Callie's nose. Callie grinned and gripped Arizona's waste tightly; following her down onto the bed as she began to lean back again. Giggling, the paediatric surgeon squirmed against the body weight and threw Callie a teasing look.

"Someone's in the mood!"

"I was hoping that you were in the shower" Callie admitted, adjusting herself so that she was now lying fully on top of her beautiful wife, looking straight up at her face, making Arizona chuckle. She could listen to that sound all day!

"mmmm hmm. I'm sure you were"

Callie lifted herself off the smaller body beneath her, sensing that she wasn't getting anywhere, and lay on the empty space to their right, her head lightly resting on Arizona's shoulder.

"What're you looking at?"

"Nothing really-"

Scanning her eyes over the official looking web page, Callie wondered what Arizona found so interesting that meant she had no attention left for her own wife. Her eyes were met with a blur of words she could hardly make any sense of until she came to the top of the page where the title was printed in a very clear font.

"Fostering?" Callie choked, her eyes meeting the clear title at the top of the web page, sending shockwaves through her. Arizona _knew_ that the subject of children was touchy since the miscarriage. How could she not know that her own wife wanted to foster a kid? She hadn't even wanted a _baby_ until she'd had it thrust upon her. Callie was the one who had to beg and beg and beg until she was blue in the face for Arizona to even consider the option. No way did Arizona want to foster. She took a deep breath, but somehow the words still came out angry. "YOU WANT TO FOSTER A CHILD?"

"No Calliope…. I didn't…. I _don't_ …. I was just looking." Promised Arizona, worry knitted into her expression as she threw the laptop away from her.

There was a silence whilst Callie tried to think of something to say until she finally sighed and looked at her wife curiously.

"This is about that girl isn't it?"

"Elise? I guess… I mean… I don't know!" Stumbled Arizona, trying to find the right words to express what she'd been trying to vocalise all day. "You should've seen her Callie. She flinched. Like, she actually flinched away from me as if I was going to hurt her. She thought that I was going to hit her."

Callie stared at Arizona doubtfully, her anger dying down once she realised that the only thing her lover was guilty of was caring too much about those darn tiny humans, and this kid wasn't even tiny.

"You? She thought _you_ were going to hit her… You?"

"This isn't funny Callie! Don't you think it's weird that she didn't tell me anything about what happened to her?"

"Not really," Callie sighed, throwing herself back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling, sensing that the moment for sexy-time had come and gone. "She doesn't _know_ you and you're not the police. Maybe she just wasn't ready!"

"No, we're missing something!" Arizona turned to face Callie on the bed and the Latino could suddenly see how much this was bothering her. "You saw the scars right?"

"I did" Callie admitted.

They'd all seen them. Mark could be insensitive, but when he had spotted the pink, puffy scars that lined the teenager's thighs, Callie could see the hurt in his eyes as he pointed them out to the rest of the group. An uncomfortable silence had then settled through the surgeons as everyone tried to block the image of such a young girl trying to hurt herself like that out of their minds. Mark had been quiet for the rest of the surgery. Callie could tell it had upset him more than he liked to admit.

"There were more. They weren't just on her legs; they were all down her arms too. I saw them when I hugged her!" Suddenly, Arizona looked up and nodded at the idea that popped into her head, "Maybe you should talk to her?"

Callie looked up in shock and nearly choked. Arizona wanted _her_ to talk to a 17-year-old about self-harming; something that she'd never had any experience with at all.

"Me? Isn't that a job for psych?"

"I've already scheduled an appointment. But what can they do if Elise tells them that she's not considering hurting herself? If she's not resisting treatment then…"

"They can't do anything!" Concluded Callie, a grave look appearing on her face once she realised that she had lost the battle. "Which is why you want me to talk to her."

"Please?" Arizona pleaded, eyes wide and innocent. "You're more…" she struggled to find the right words, so instead put her hands up in claw shapes in front of Callie's face "Grrrrr"

"I'm more 'grrrrrr'?"

A grin appeared on Arizona's lips when she realised that Callie was making fun of her, and pushed herself onto her knees, giving her wife a playful glare.

"I'll make it worth your while…." She hinted, lifting herself off the bed and straddling Callie, playfully flicking her hair behind her as she leant down to place a sloppy kiss on her lips. Her hands wandered beneath the navy blue scrubs to caress the brunette's soft skin, only shades darker than her own and a soft moan could be heard from beneath her.

"Well… how can I say no to that?" Callie grinned under the blond. Maybe the moment for sexy-time hadn't passed at all.

* * *

Callie had found an excuse to sit in on the interview the next morning, claiming that she needed to stand by in case there was any sort of emergency. She had not mentioned that she was an orthopaedic surgeon and she definitely had not mentioned that she wasn't actually Elise's doctor. No one seemed to notice anyway and the two police officers had been quick to agree.

She stared at the girl in front of her and immediately noticed that the kid had regressed since she'd last seen her. Where her cheekbones were supposed to be stood dark, sunken caverns as if the horrors that she'd faced the day before had left permanent trademarks on her features. She looked tired, almost as if she hadn't slept in weeks, and the corners of her mouth were turned down into a permanent frown.

"So it says here that you're at Riverstreet Girls? Is that right?" drawled the first policeman, the disapproval evident in his voice as he stared at Elise coldly. If this was him trying to make a safe space for such a vulnerable young person he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Yes"

"And could you tell me, in your own words please, the circumstances that lead to you being put there?" The next policeman asked with a tone of judgement so strong that Callie began to feel sorry for the girl in front of her, the realisation slowly dawning on her that this girl had probably never been taken seriously by anyone in a position of authority.

"I destroyed my foster carer's car."

The policeman looked down at his file in confusion and shook his head.

"It says here that you were put into the group home after a suicide attempt in Juvie. Are you saying that's not correct?"

Callie's heart dropped as she heard the words come out of the policeman's mouth, watching as Elise's shoulders sagged at the accusation. She wasn't denying it. The Latino started to feel sick, the contents of her stomach threatening to spill as she imagined the young girl lying in a cell somewhere, all alone in the world and desperate for someone to show her some kind of love. Suddenly, Callie started to experience the feelings that Arizona had been trying to explain to her the day before. Suddenly, she felt a maternal instinct over the girl she had fought so hard to save.

"So you were lying?"

"What does it matter?" Elise almost spat the words, her eyes fixed on a spot on the wall that she'd been staring at for the last 45 minutes. She hadn't, not even once, looked up to speak to the interrogators before her, and Callie could easily sense the distrust that oozed from the teen. "I thought this was about the attack?"

"We're just trying to get a better picture, that's all!"

The two police officers glanced at each other quickly, so quickly that Callie could've missed it if she hadn't been watching them closely and she began to realise that they didn't believe the story one bit. They were here because they had to be, but any longer and they'd get bored. She felt the anger start to bubble inside of her.

"Tell me, did you see how many attackers there were?"

"No."

"Would around 4-5 seem accurate?"

"I don't know."

"Okay well, what were they wearing? Were there any identifiable features you could describe to us?"

"I didn't see… I was too busy spitting blood."

"Kid, if you don't tell us anything, we're not going to be able to help you!"

Callie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the tension in the room peeking to it's highest point. She could see the scared girl was lying, terrified to speak the truth in case of being ridiculed or smashed down, something that she'd probably experienced many times in her short life, but even so, she knew that there was something else that Elise wasn't saying. Something that was weighing down on her like a tonne of bricks, keeping her restrained to the cell she'd already mentally confined herself to. All Callie wanted to do was hug her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

She heard the miserable police officer sigh and brought her attention back to the present.

"Look. We've all been in fights at some point in our life. If this is just an elaborate way to get out of trouble for… gang violence or…. a fight about a boy, we'll just let you off with a warning. But if you keep wasting our time, this could get serious!"

"You think that just because I'm a care kid that I'm involved in a gang? I WAS ATTACKED! I was beaten with baseball bats and left to die… but obviously, you don't believe that because I'm nothing to you."

Visibly agitated now, Elise let her emotion slip through unguarded for the first time since talking to the police. As she watched Elise start to shake, Callie was startled by the sound of the blood pressure monitor to the left of her increasing, reminding her of the fact that the teen was a patient here and not her daughter.

"Okay, you need to leave now!" Callie announced gruffly, leaping up from her chair to usher the confused policemen out of the hospital room. The situation was not at all serious, and she wasn't sure if she even had the legal right to kick the men out, but nonetheless, she put on the most doctory voice that she could handle and tried to sound kickass. Bailey would be proud. "You can come back when my patient isn't in such a fragile position, but my professional judgement would be that that won't be for another few days!"

She watched as the policemen looked at each other and then nodded before turning on their heels to leave the ortho surgeon and the teenager together. Silently, she let Elise take a few deep, ragged breaths to calm herself down, before slipping beside her to take her slowing pulse. This was a girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, even if she did her best to hide it.

"You didn't need to save me!" Elise whispered, the hurt evident on her exhaust-ridden face as she fixed her eyes back to the brick she'd been staring at previously.

"I know" Callie simply replied, watching the girl closely as she stood at the foot of the bed.

"So why'd you tell them they had to leave?"

"Because…I thought you might want a break."

"You're not even my doctor…"

"I know," Callie repeated calmly, beginning to understand the vulnerable young patient that lay in front of her. She was trying her best to push her away. Callie was having none of it.

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I know that this tough girl act that you try so hard hide behind is going to fall eventually... and you might need someone there when it does!"

"You don't know what you're talking about…"

"Of course I don't!" Callie shrugged, a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she walked round to sit beside Elise, "Because, I've always been a 30-something hormonal latino lady that knows nothing about being a teenager… I came out of the womb that way…."

"You've never been a care kid!" Elise grumbled, her eyes temporarily meeting Callie's as she continued to fight the woman.

"Maybe not. But that doesn't mean I can't help you. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to!"

"It's your job… you have to be here"

"No" Callie shook her head firmly. "My Job is over in the orthopaedic wing where I fix peoples fractures and make legs from scratch. My job is helping amputees recover, or helping athletes get back to doing what they love. My job is bones. This… is not my job. I'm here because I want to be."

There was a silent pause where Elise tried to find the right words.

"What do you want from me?"

Callie reached over and clasped a firm grip around the teenager's wrist before she could move away, watching as Elise grimaced in pain. She could see the girl's midnight-coloured eye go from annoyed to panicked in a second but didn't stop, gently but firmly turning the hand around so her forearm was pointing towards the ceiling and lifting the tethered sleeve up to her elbow. Tears welled in the girl's eyes as Callie caught a glimpse of numerous new cuts on her wrists; the blood cakey and cracked around the many recently created shallow cuts; mixed with old scars that could easily have dated back two or three years. She lifted the girl's chin so that she had no choice but to look into the deadly serious older woman's eyes.

"I want you to start talking Elise. I want you to tell me what happened to you. And, I'm not leaving until you do!"


End file.
